Governor Rick Synder discusses Detroit...

[PaulieG63]

From Mlive:

DETROIT, MI - Right at the beginning of Gov. Rick Snyder's appearance on the "Big Show" with Lloyd Jackson on WJR-AM Monday night he touted the $12.8 million Globe building project, which includes turning a derelict structure on the city's east riverfront into a Department of Natural Resources activity and resource center.
"It's kind of the blending of urban area with recreation and with outdoor space," Snyder said.
To mark the project's birth on Saturday, he slapped on a helmet and went biking along the Dequindre Cut, and said people remarked about how Detroit is one of the best cities in the country for biking.
But on Jackson's show Monday it wasn't all relentlessly positive, as topics ranged from the unsavory situation at Detroit's police headquarters to whether or not the state's emergency manager law has roots in racism.
Is more retail coming to Detroit?
Jackson asked Snyder about more shopping options in Detroit, and whether any "big bucks" retailers are set to come to the city.
Snyder responded by saying that while it is good that places like Midtown and downtown have a "95 percent-plus" occupancy rate, there still needs to be more activity in the city, presumably referring to its population. He said Detroit needs to get the message out that "good things are happening."
The fact that the Detroit Tigers are doing well helps, he said.
On the Godbee sex scandal
He said that the situation at the Detroit Police Department, from which Ralph Godbee abruptly retired as police chief Monday amid a sex scandal, is "really unfortunate," and that it takes away from important issues the city should be focusing on, such as the lighting district, a regional transit authority and Belle Isle, echoing words he said last week.
The 'enter Detroit at your own risk' flyers being passed out
Snyder was asked about some police handing out flyers that say "enter Detroit at your own risk."
"I don't' think that helps anybody," Snyder said. "That perpetuates the difficulties we've had."
He added, "Detroit has been one of the 10 most dangerous cities for how long? It's been going on for years."
But, he said, the city is showing progress now, and needs to stay on a forward course so that it does not slip backwards.
Snyder said that in terms of economics, the state as a whole needs to stay its current course as well. He said he keeps a graph on his wall that shows Michigan's GDP peak in 1965, when it was 5.25 percent of the national economy, and its bottoming out in 2008/2009, when it fell to 2.5 percent of the national economy.
The first major uptick, he said, came in 2011.
On Belle Isle
"It's a great gem of the city,"Snyder said, expressing confidence that a deal between the state and the city could be reached soon.
By making it a state park, as Snyder's administration has proposed, the city can continue to own it but the state can invest funds in the park to make it "a safe place for recreation."
Snyder said City Council sent the state "some 120 questions" that they want the state to sign off on. He said the state is complying. He also noted that William G. Milliken Park is considered a successfully run state park in the city of Detroit.
Car lot owner keeps getting robbed/Public safety
A caller asked Snyder what could be done to ebb crime in Detroit. The owner of a car lot, the caller said his vehicles are habitually stolen, and the police response has been poor.
Snyder said the state is trying to do more with public safety issues in the city as well as lighting. He said it is also looking at what could be done with a prisoner re-entry system with more drug treatment.
"Specifically, with respect to police officers themselves, we're graduating more Michigan state troopers," he said.
In Detroit, he added, the state has launched a program that works with Detroit Public Schools to make sure children have safe routes to school, while also bringing social workers back in to communities.
Snyder also said that while it was good that Midtown and Downtown are seeing higher occupancy rates, the city needs more activity in "the neighborhoods," presumably meaning the outer, less populated areas of the city.

Is the emergency manager law racist?
Jackson told Snyder that some people argue that the state's emergency management law is designed to disenfranchise people of color.
"That's not the case," Snyder said, adding that it was merely set up for communities "in case of an emergency."
He said that in some cases, such as in Detroit's case, communities have lost a significant amount of their tax base and yet their governments remain as large as they were at their peaks.
The six November ballot proposals
He also reiterated his stance on the ballot proposals: 'Yes' on Proposal 1 [[the emergency manager law), 'No' on the other five [[which all in some way alter the state constitution).
"We're making progress now and these ballot proposals, all these constitutional amendments, would take us one step back, so yes on one and no on all the rest," Snyder said.
Converting Blue Cross Blue Shield into a mutual
One caller was concerned with the state's plan to convert Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan away from what she said is an affordable setup as a non-profit organization.
Snyder told her that someone had given her false information.
"The thing is the Affordable Care Act is coming in 2014, when the marketplace is changing," he said, referring to the federal healthcare legislation signed into law in March 2010.
He said Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will become a non-profit mutual company, which means policy holders will in effect own it. Under this setup, the company will give Michigan $1.5 billion over 18 years as part of a charitable endowment.
"It's a great arrangement to reflect the changing marketplace," Snyder said. "Better shopping choices for you, hopefully lower costs and more choices for all Michiganders."

http://www.mlive.com/business/detroi..._river_default

Paulie G